This Is War
by Apples Who Dance With Oranges
Summary: Kanto and Johto are at war. Ash joins the Kanto Royal Army as a young military officer in hopes to help his region in their time of need, but when he's sent to the front lines he realizes the true horrors of war. Now, he must do his part in ending the war, help his men make it back alive, and returned home in one piece so he can finally ask Misty to marry him.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One.**

The hot summer air was thick as many of the men perfectly lined up outside their military barrack found it hard to breath steady. The unforgiving sun rays falling upon them like a fierce rain storm and the hour long formation stand getting to them. A few of the men weakly gave into the temptation of the blazing sun and risked to sip from their canteens which was against their orders, fearing they'd pass out before their company commander arrived. The eyes of the soldiers began weak and a few of their stances became wobbly, their focus slowly disappearing.

Each man wore the standard military field uniform for a infantry soldier. Each man had a pair of neatly polished combat boots on, their tan field trousers neatly tucked within them, they wore light gray undershirt under their gray military field tunic, and a grayish tan field cap. Located upon the upper left sleeve of their sleeve was their unit patch which was a dark blue shield with two red swords crossing in the middle and the number two over it in yellow. Located right above the symbol was a tab with the word "mountain" on it. Located on the middle part of both sleeves were the rank insignia chevrons for enlisted men, and for officers their officer's bar was located on their collar and patrol cap. On the upper right sleeve was the Kanto national symbol. On the upper left breast pocket were the words, Kanto Royal Army. Each man had a small gray pack securely strapped to their back, officers wore a sharp officer's sword on their belts and enlisted men had a foot long blade attached to the side of their back accessible from their back.

These men were part of the Kanto Royal Army. Their unit was a well known and fierce infantry unit known as the, 2nd Mountain Division. A elite and well trained division that was taught in the ways of fighting in almost every terrain as an infantry unit and specialized in the rough mountain terrain where many basic infantry units could not fight well in.

The men were silent as every enlisted man stood in formation with their platoons, the lowest ranking men standing in the back, with the Corporals in the third row, all the Sergeants in the second row, and in the first row was their platoon leader. Standing before 2nd platoon was a young faced Second Lieutenant who was about the age of twenty five. He was well liked by his platoon and got along with the other officers, he was no other then Ash Ketchum.

Hearing about the sudden declaration of war by Johto on Kanto and wanting to better himself both physically and mentally Ash signed up for the military. Being selected and graduating officer's training school he went on to then be tested for the possibility of being selected for the 2nd Mountain Division. Ash had to be separated from his dear companion Pikachu who like most Pokemon who were signed up with their trainer was selected to help the war effort. Pikachu was attached to a support unit that would help restore electricity to towns that the Kanto Army would take. Yet, not all Pokemon were as lucky and they were assigned to combat units like the Growlithe bomb squad that would sniff out explosives, or the Pidgey squadron that would do recon over enemy lines.

"Look sharp men here comes the Captain and Surge," Gary snapped at his men as Ash's closest friend and fellow Second Lieutenant was in charge of 1st platoon located directly to Ash's right. Upon hearing Gary tell him men to do so he could hear practicably every man within the company fix their stance in fear they'd get chewed out for it. A few seconds passed and Ash could hear the sounds of the two higher ranking officers conversing as they passed through the long lines of soldiers. Finally, reaching the front of the formation the two men turned around to face their soldiers.

"Company at attention!" First Lieutenant Surge roared loudly as every man quickly snapped upwards their bodies as straight as a board and their eyes fiercely starring forward in fear to be targeted by the former gym leader turned Army Officer.

Stepping a few steps forward as no other then their company commander, a fierce fighter in both the ways of combat and Pokemon battles. His uniform was neatly pressed, his amber eyes examined every man within the company glare by glare, a smirk displayed upon his face as he did so, his jet black hair sticking out from his gray patrol cap, and his left hand resting on the hilt of his sword as his right hand playfully rubbed the grip of his sidearm pistol.

He was the commander of Abra Company, Captain Red.

None of the men knew his first name, only his last. There had always been rumors that he had once killed one of his platoon sergeants a few years back for disobeying him. They said he completely avoided being court martial because he simply stared the General in the eyes and the general was to afraid to even speak. Naturally, Ash didn't believe any of this but he had to admit that Red was a frightening man.

"That is all," Red stated calmly as he turned around and nodded to Surge who quickly ordered all of the men to return to their barracks.

Ash just stood there baffled.

Red would always do this. Make them stand in attention for hours and then show up later with a smile on his face, then dismiss them right away.

"Second platoon return to your barracks!" Ash echoed loudly as he turned to face the annoyed looks his men were giving him about how Red would always do this. Ash gave his close friend and platoon sergeant, Staff Sergeant Brock Stone a simple nod allowing him to take over the platoon while they returned to their barracks.

Ash sighed heavily as he turned to be greeted by Gary and another Second Lieutenant who was in charge of 3rd platoon. The man was about Ash's age he had short chocolate brown hair, his hazel green eyes annoyingly glared at Red and Surge as they walked away, and he had a light tan to his skin. He was a good friend of Ash's who had just been recently assigned to their unit, Bryson Walker. Bryson had a Growlithe who was assigned to a bomb squad within the 1st Mountain Division something that obviously worried Bryson.

"Can't believe the Captain did this again," Bryson muttered annoyingly as it was their day off and Red had a habit of doing this to them on their days off.

Ash simply shrugged.

"All I know is that I heard from Robertson in Golbat company says that our division is being send out," Gary stated casually as the three of them began to make their way towards the officers barracks.

"Robertson is full of bullshit," Bryson stated back with a chuckle as the First Sergeant from Golbat Company was known for his tall tales.

Ash examined a few of the men in their unit at the shooting range all of them with their guns at hand. A few of the officers were firing off their personally selected sidearm pistols and revolvers. Four men were laying on their stomachs with their bolt action rifle at hand firing off a shot and then pulling back the bolt to allow the next bullet to cycle into the chamber, the standard Kanto military rifle had a ten round clip. Beside those men were two others holding the newly assigned sub machine guns that were just recently being handed out, they had a clip of twenty five shots and were fully automatic; the only problem was they shot out pistol rounds and weren't useful for long range. At the end of the line was a machine gun crew of three men firing off the heavy water cooled gun with a Squirtle who acted as their gun cooling operator, as he used his water gun to cool it off.

"Ashy Boy... Earth to Ketchum," Gary's voice echoed throughout Ash's head as Ash was suddenly snapped out of his daze to turn aroudn to face Gary and Bryson, "We're here."

The three men entered the officer's barracks that was the same size as the enlisted men's but instead of being crowded with fifty men theirs only had twenty beds within it and only ten were being used. Gary quickly dropped on his bed in exhaustion yawning loudly as he did so, Bryson wasted no time and ripped off his boots wiggling his toes through his socks, and Ash sat on his bed removing his hat and running his hands through his hair.

At his bedside was his foot locker which was open for inspection, taped to the top of it was a few pictures. A few of his mother, some of him and Pikachu, but the one that caught his eye every time was a young red haired girl who was smiling as she did the peace sign.

Misty.

Ash found himself lost in that picture many times and could never find a way out of that daze.

He missed her so much.

"Ketchum, Oak, and Walker! Get your asses in the briefing tent, we're having a briefing!" Surge's voice boomed loudly as the towering officer burst into the room and as fast as he appeared he was gone.

"Briefing, in the briefing room... That's a first" Bryson muttered jokingly with a sly grin as the three officers all sighed heavily as they all realized that maybe the rumors were true. Maybe they were being sent out, especially with the war now going on.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two.**

Machine gun fire filled the air as it echoed in the distance loudly, followed by the sudden cries of pain from men being hit from both sides. The sound of explosives ripped apart the rocky terrain of the mountains caused many men to cringe in fear of being hit. Mortar rounds smashed into the weakly defended Kanto line as Johto soldiers rushed froward with everything they had. Smoke filled the air as blood stained the Earth, both Pokemon and Humans fell pray to the in-human thing known as war.

"I repeat the Johto military has made their first act of war upon us! I repeat we are at war!" A young Army private cried out loudly into the radio set that was attached to its fallen carrier and his messenger Pidgey. The young private was covered head to toe in dry blood and dirt, his eyes were wide and his body was shaking. His words became jumbled up as he tried his best to get into contact with any type of HQ in Kanto.

Suddenly, the radio jumped to life as a low static sound began to fill the air from the radio. The young private nervously began to play with a few nobs until he could clearly hear another voice on the other line, "I repeat this is the communication company of the 34th Infantry Division. We have been getting emergency signals from the line all day, what is going on?"

The private was stunned for a few seconds before he realized he had to answer before the signal was lost.

"We are under attacked! I repeat we are under attacked!"

There was no answer.

"We are being slaughtered out here! My whole platoon is gone! I repeat-"

The private was cut off by a sudden voice on the other line. This one was older and deeper then the radio operator who had just answered.

"This is Major Koga from the 34th Infantry Division, what is going on over there son?" The deep voice snarled loudly as whoever he was he obviously was unaware of how quickly the Johto military had sprung their attack upon Kanto.

"Sir, this morning before the sun even rose they sprung their attack! A full on invasion upon the Kanto and Johto territory line! Thousands charged our position after an hour long artillery strike that split our communication, any type of man or Pokemon messenger was shot dead!" The private cried out fearfully as he realized he didn't have long before he was discovered by the enemy and he needed to pass on what was going on to anyone.

Koga was in shock.

"Sir... We have lost the line."

The sound of a rifle going off ripped through the radio head set as Koga stumbled back in shock as it was obvious the young private had been discovered by the invading enemy.

Johto was invading Kanto...

* * *

**Three Days later...**

Ash sat in the passenger seat of the olive green colored topless jeep in silence as his eyes weakly watched the country side fly by. His emotions numb from the sudden declaration of war and the sudden farewells he had to give his loved one's. It all seemed like everything was happening to fast and yet it seemed as if the news of the war was coming in even faster. Hour after hour a stack of casualties were being passed through command. The fear of a full invasion upon the Kanto homeland was feared, towns were guarded day and night, patrols roamed the region, and coastal guns prepared for a possibly sea invasion. Usually, troops would be transported by train to the central mountains but some high ranking brass thought it was a bad idea to pack hundreds of troops on one train. So, instead large convoys were taking off from bases all across Kanto heading to their assigned duties.

The 2nd Mountain Division had just gotten their assigned field... It was the Central Mountains.

Ash had been told that the 1st Mountain Division would be stationed at the Northern part of the central mountains, all Ash could do was pray that Pikachu would be fine.

Ash's mother cried like any other mother would when she heard of his sudden deployment. It broke his heart to see her cry tears of sorrow in as he hadn't seen her cry in years, something that his mother was to stop for and something that she tried to hide. Yet, Ash knew she was only a carrying mother trying her best to stay strong for her old child who she was afraid of losing. Without Ash she would be all alone.

Then there was Misty...

Misty cried for hours when Ash saw her two days ago while on leave before his deployment. Misty had heard the news of the sudden declaration of war and prayed that Ash would be stationed at the home front in order to keep peace. Yet, this was a time of war and she knew at some point in time he'd have to be sent over to fight. Misty didn't want to see him go and even offered Ash a chance to run away to Sinnoh with her before he had to return to break. Naturally, as an officer Ash declined but as a human being he desired that offer. With their final hour together before Ash had to return back to his base Misty gave him two things, the first was a small picture of her in her best dress from a festival they went to as kids and the other was her special fishing lure that resembled her.

With those gifts being given Ash disappeared from her sight as the tears caused her vision to become blurry and the pain caused her heart to become weak.

She needed him to come back in one piece.

...

The jeep came to a sudden stop as the whole convoy stopped. Several of the enlisted men exited the trucks to take a leak, or stretch their muscles. Ash did the same hoping out of the jeep he left his bolt action rifle slung across his seat and whipped the few beads of sweat from his forehead with his patrol cap. Turning around with his arms high in the air he roughly kicked the side of the jeep causing both Bryson and Gary to wake up from their nap in the back of the jeep.

"We win the war yet?" Bryson mumbled lowly as he rubbed his eyes.

"We won't win anything with you on our side," Gary snickered as he climbed out of the jeep weakly yawning as he stumbled to the side of the road to take care of some unfinished business. Bryson lazily joined Ash by his side the two of them examining the long convoy of military trucks and jeeps that was carrying their whole division off to war. It was truly an amazing sight.

"Um... Excuse me, do you men know where I can find Abra Company of the 12th Regiment?" A voice asked curiously from behind the two officers who weakly craned their heads around to see a young faced uniform soldier. He had long black hair that was obviously not military regulation. Slung over his shoulder was his rifle and in his right hand was a bag filled with papers.

"You've found them," Gary called out as he stumbled over to the three as he struggled to zip his pants up.

"I'm Private. Tracey Sketch, I'm from the Kanto Army Journalists Company! I'm a combat artist, sir!" Tracey cried out as he obviously hadn't been in the army for very long as he was acting as if he was still in basic training and had to scream out everything he said to an officer.

"Journalist... Explains the hair," Bryson mumbled lowly as he took a big bite from his standard issued chocolate bar that came with their rations.

"So, I'm assuming you're being assigned to draw anything you see while with us?" Gary asked curiously as he obviously knew the answer was yes.

"Yes, sir! I'm also suppose to take photographs," Tracey explained as he said this Bryson gave him a sour glare upon hearing this.

"Pick your pictures wisely, kid. I don't want to see any of my dead men in one of your newspapers," Bryson said annoyingly as he returned to the back of the jeep where he lazily tilted his cap so it'd block the sun from his eyes and prepared for another nap. His sub machine gun resting in his lap as if it was some sort of pet. Ash knew how Bryson felt as he didn't want some journalist going around taking pictures of their dead men, but it was something that had to be done to get people back home aware of the dangers of this war.

"Have you been assigned a platoon?" Ash asked curiously as he climbed back into the jeep along with Gary as he could hear the sounds of the trucks starting up again in the distance.

"No, sir! I was told by the First Lieutenant to just blend in with the whole company," Tracey explained nervously as he could hear all the trucks starting to roar their engines even louder as they prepared to start heading out.

Gary gave Bryson a sly grin before speaking out, "Jump in the third truck behind us they're part of 3rd platoon lead by Second Lieutenant Walker over here!"

Tracey quickly nodded in head with a huge smile displayed upon his face as he thanked the three officers several times before he raced off.

"I hate you," Bryson spat annoyingly as he playfully pushed Gary and then rolled onto his side embracing the warm sun light.

Jumping into the drivers side of the topless jeep was Brock the platoon sergeant quickly started up the jeep.

"Paterson was getting tired of driving, so I decided to take up his spot," Brock explained with a grin as he had always enjoyed being Ash's driver as it gave the two friends time to catch up while Bryson and Gary fell asleep in the car ride like usual. The convoy started up again until the mountain tops of the Central Mountains were in sight. The sky was no longer lit up by a bright sun light, but was clouded by thick smoke from the distance. The convoy was now widely spread apart to avoid being ripped apart by air attacks and everyone could feel a sense of anxiety hit them.

These was the real thing.

They were heading off to war.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three.**

Pikachu yawned lightly as his slowly made his way up the rocky mountain ridge along with several other electric type Pokemon who has been assigned to his squad. They all wore dark gray arm bands with a yellow lightening bolt through it to represent that they were part of a power restore unit. Leading their squad was a older Electabuzz who had been at the Kanto and Johto territory line when the Johto military had first attacked. He had been reassigned to Pikachu's squad after they had found him retreating with a platoon of soldiers from the line.

"Pika pi?" Pikachu called out weakly as he was tired from the long walk like the others and wanted a break.

_Sergeant, when can we stop for a break?_

"Electa Electabuzz buzzzzz!" Electabuzz snarled annoyingly at the young Pikachu who had been given the rank of Corporal and was the second in command of the squad.

_We'll stop when we reach the observation base which is only a few more miles from here! The Kanto military still has that base under control, but they're low on power! That's where we come in!_

Pikachu's ears went backwards upon hearing this, he knew his men were tired and needed a break. They all had been traveling for the past two days and had little break. A few of the weaker squad members who weren't the best at the physical traveling were beginning to trail behind and Pikachu feared they die from exhaustion. Something that was well known of Pokemon during a time of war.

If the enemy didn't get you, then your own human commanders would.

Pikachu missed Ash.

* * *

The briefing tent located about half a mile into that the side of the main road of the central mountains was being used the the main HQ for the Kanto forces located at the Western mountain section. The tent was filled with enlisted soldier running back and fourth trying to inform their commanding officers of the current situation in the Northern and Southern parts of the mountain. At a small table covered in a large map stood Red the young Army Captain glared down at the map in deep thought, his orders were to follow the main road that had been made by the Kanto military in order to make transporting goods to the territory line easier. Red however didn't agree with this plan.

If Red were to take his company up the main road he was sure to run into road side bombs, ambushes, and would be an easy target for the Johto 4th Air Corps which had been confirmed to be working with the Johto ground forces in the Western section of the central mountain. Red didn't agree with his commander's plans at all and even though he had been dismissed half an hour ago he had yet to move from his spot.

"Captain, what are you still doing here? I ordered you to take your company and head up the main road half an hour ago," A Lieutenant Colonel bellowed loudly as emerging from a small officer's section of the tent appeared Bruno, the higher ranking officer barely could fit into his uniform as his muscular body prevented him from getting a smaller size. Bruno was a strong and brilliant trainer, as an officer he deeply loved his men and didn't want to see them die, but many of the higher ranking officers feared this love for his men would get in the way of his victories.

"Sir, I don't think taking the main road is the best idea especially with the 4th Air Corps roaming the skies above," Red admitted right away as in most cases he'd be in a heated debate with any other officers who would send him on a mission like this so carelessly but Red saw Bruno differently. As Red was more of the unemotional type of leader, Bruno was different and showed emotion towards his men. Red saw the two of them as one as when his men needed some emotional support Bruno would give it to them and when they needed a swift kick in the ass then Red was there.

"True. I've been given word that the 4th Air Corps has been dived among the Western sector, but intelligence has informed me that a Captain Falkner is in charge of the section you'll be heading on," Bruno explained as he shuffled through a collection of papers his eyes never leaving them as he spoke. He was far to busy to take any type of break.

"I think instead of taking the main road I should take my men about 300 meters to its right along this ridge. The terrain over there will provide enough cover that if we do get spotted by Falkner and his men then we'll have enough cover to fight back. Also, I'm sure there'll be some enemy positions that we can take on the way up there," Red explained as his eyes finally left the map for the first time in half an hour, a sly grin displayed upon his face.

Bruno examined the map for a few minutes before speaking, "That will work fine. A element of tanks will be arriving here by tomorrow so you'll be without tank support for some time, the tanks will take the main road with some infantry and meet up with your men within two days time. Maybe even four if they run into more trouble then expected, I'll keep you posted by radio."

"Yes, sir!"

Red quickly exited the tent where he was greeted by Surge who was playing with his Raichu. Surge had requested to keep Raichu as he had the authority with his rank to do so and the main reason it was passed by Red was because Red knew the company may need an emergency set of power, as there was always a chance they may be split from the main Kanto line while fighting within the unforgiving mountain terrain.

"Did you fix Bruno's plan?"

"You bet I did, we're heading up the mountain ridge in one hour."

* * *

**Two hours Later...**

Ash cursed angrily as he struggled to climb up the rocky mountain side ridge his platoon trailing behind him as he led the way, to his right was Bryson's platoon along with Gary's. To Ash's left was the remaining three other platoons along with Red and Surge leading the whole advance. The main road wasn't visible from their position as the rocky terrain made it hard to see what was around them, for all them could know was there was a machine gun nest waiting for them only a few feet. Yet, it was better then traveling in the wide open on the main road.

"The before action report that the Captain handed out says that this area is the beginning of the Johto territory. The last few patrols they sent up here have been harassed by sniper fire, machine gun fire, and small patrols," Brock stated lowly as he trailed a few feet behind Ash with his personally selected pumper action shot gun slung over his shoulder, being a Staff Sergeant he was given the chance to select any weapon that he excelled with. Brock adjusted his helmet slightly as he continued to walk besides Ash, checking the rest of the platoon behind him every few steps.

"We can take anything they throw at us, " Ash answered back in a stern voice as Brock smirked at his friend's confident personality. Ash had always been confident person as a kid and now that they were older it seemed that it had molded him into a great leader. Yet, he was only human and made mistakes like everyone else, but in combat mistakes got people killed and Ash couldn't offered that.

"Just don't do anything crazy I promised Misty I'd get you back alive," Brock said jokingly with a grin as Ash playfully pushed him the two of them continuing their journey up the rocky ridge.

Suddenly, machine gun fire filled the air the bullets ripping apart the ground before Ash and Brock. The two of them dropping to the ground quickly the bullets ripped apart the air around them, the whole company did the same as they all hit the ground without wasting any time. The sound of the bullets cutting through the air echoed loudly as several men yelling in the Johto native language followed the gun shots. A few men from Bryson's platoon returned fire with their rifles, but quickly stopped as it was hopeless.

"What do we do?" Corporal. Ritchie Hiroshi called out as the young radio operator was only a few feet from Ash and Brock, a large gray metal box attached to his back was the platoon's radio as it kept them connected with the rest of the company. The radio quickly was brought to life as Surge was on the other line of ti barking orders at Gary's platoon.

"Lieutenant Oak! Set up a damn machine gun on the right ridge, we'll provide cover fire from the left side so your men can set up it safely! Ketchum I want you to take up a fire team and advance on the machine gun nest! Once our machine gun hits them with enough lead they'll lay off and your men will move in to take it!" Surge's voiced echoed loudly through the radio as through every breathe he took Ash could hear Red's calm voice instructing his men to take up scattered positions along the left side of the ridge to provided cover fire with their rifles. Gary's platoon was the heavy weapons platoons which consisted of machine guns, mortar tubes, anti-tank bazookas, and a two flame throwers with a fire type Pokemon.

The radio then went dead and Surge returned to Red's side.

Ash looked at his men nervously as he had to pick three other men to accompany them to take out the machine gun nest. Ash thought about taking Brock but he knew he needed him to stay back just in case if something happened to Ash then he could take over the platoon, then Ash's eyes fell upon three men who were squatting to his fare left. The first man was Corporal Taylor and two Privates by the names of Peterson and Henderson. They knew very well they were about to be picked.

"Taylor, Peterson, and Henderson you're with me! First squad lay down a steady cover fire and the rest of you are going to stay down, I don't want to get shot in the back so keep the cover fire accurate!" Ash ordered his men as his eyes then fell upon Gary's platoon who were taking cover within a rocky mountain ridge, Bryson's platoon was a few meters behind them, and ahead of all them was three men along with their Squirtle hiding behind a boulder waiting for their cover fire so they could set up their machine gun.

"Open fire!"

The rest of the company to Ash's left unleashed hell upon the Johto machine gun crew as their bullets ripped apart at the boulder wall they had made for cover. Several Johto riflemen were with the machine gun crew at the time and they quickly returned fire, two of the Johto soldiers being cut down before they could even fire back. The sounds of the Kanto soldiers pulling back their bolts after every shot could be lightly heard, two grenades went off near their position but no damage was done.

Ash's eyes fell upon the machine gun crew from Gary's platoon, they had set up their gun between two large boulders the ammo carrier was feeding in a belt, the gunner was peering down the sights, the stand carrier was adjusting it to the unleveled ground, and the Squirtle was pumping in water into the gun's barrel container so the cold water could cool off the gun when being fired. Within seconds the gun crew was ready and they opened fire, a barrage of bullets ripped at the rock cover the Johto soldiers had the Johto machine gunner took a bullet to the neck. With this Ash and his three men rushed forward, climbing over the ridge they rushed towards the machine gun crew. Diving down into the ground they took cover just in time as another soldier took the role of machine gunner.

"You think they've spotted us?" Henderson asked nervously.

"If they did they won't waste much ammo firing at us! They got almost a whole company firing at them right now!" Taylor called out as a few bullets hit the ground around them from a few riflemen hiding up in the machine gun nest.

"Taylor and Peterson, both of you throw a grenade each! Once they go off we'll rush them, if our machine gun hasn't killed them yet it won't kill them any time sooner!" Ash ordered loudly as the three men all nodded in agreement and quickly pulled out their hand grenades from the belt pouches. As Ash prepared to give them the signal he waited for the rest of him men to stop firing as he couldn't assault the machine gun nest with all of his company firing in that area. With the only gun firing on the Johto side Ash signaled for the grenades to be released and within a few seconds the balls of explosives rained shards of metal upon the machine gun nest.

"Go! Go!"

Ash and the three of them rushed forward towards the machine gun nest the crew and the riflemen still confused by the grenades going off so close to their position. Being the first of his men to reach the machine gun nest Ash was surprised to see four dead bodies laying motionlessly on the ground with their tan uniforms soaked in crimson red blood. A sudden movement caught Ash's attention and he noticed a Johto soldier scrambling for his rifle, Ash raised his rifle and aimed down the iron sights.

The soldier struggled to grab his rifle.

Ash's finger tickled the trigger.

The soldier nervously pulled back the bolt and cycled in a new round.

Ash glared down the rifle's iron sights.

The soldier looked up at Ash and the two made eye contact.

Ash pulled back the trigger.

Blood sprayed from the soldier's chest as the bullet buried itself deep into his chest killing him within seconds of being shot. The soldier's eyes widen even wider then when he saw Ash and then they suddenly were enclosed by his heavy eyelids. Taylor, Peterson, and Henderson joined by Ash's side killing three other soldiers who were attempting to flee.

"We got them-" Henderson muttered lowly with a grin as he admired how well they worked together, but before he could finish his sentence two Johto soldier emerged from a pile of their dead comrades. The first one fired two shots from his pistols into Henderson's back while the second one dug his bayonet deep into his lower back. Ash, Taylor, and Peterson all fired one shot each into the pistol wielding soldier. Killing him instantly.

The other Johto soldier began to scream loudly in fear and rage as Henderson just stood there with his mouth wide open, the Johto soldier threatening to dig the bayonet deeper into Henderson's back. The soldier knew he was cornered and there was no escape, but he obviously was fearful of being taken prisoner. Ash had no idea what he should do. If he tried cycling another round into his rifle then the Johto soldier would harm Henderson even more.

All of a sudden a figure appeared behind the Johto soldier, the figure grabbed the soldier by the back collar and threw him into the ground. Whipping out a shiny silver revolver the figure fired three shots into the fearful soldier's chest. The revolver was so powerful and so close that the bullet holes were gaping, there was no surviving those wounds.

The figure was no other then, Captain Red.

Peterson caught Henderson as he fell to the ground the dying soldier was shaking violently as it was obvious he was going to die. The rest of the company rushed over to see what was going on, Henderson coughed up blood as his eyes weakly starred up at the sky. Peterson grasped his friend tightly as he refused to let him die by himself. Red watched from afar reloading his revolver slowly, Surge ran his hands through his blonde hair shamefully, and Taylor angrily threw his helmet onto the ground. A few of the men looked tearfully at their first causality as Henderson's breathing soon came to an end.

There was silence.

"Company move out!" Red ordered loudly as he knew they could stand around for long and risk a possibly artillery strike, or being spotted by the Johto 4th Air Corps. The company did as told leaving the lifeless body of Henderson behind to be picked up by the support units that would follow. Tracey stood there his camera at hand but not wanting to take a picture of the dead teenager soldier.

"Do it," Bryson stated weakly.

"Huh?" Tracey was surprised the Lieutenant was saying this as just a day ago he was threatening him not to take any pictures of his dead men.

"The world needs to know his story and what this war will do," Bryson spat lowly as he then went on his way leading his platoon upon the mountain ridge.

_Click._

The world would know Henderson's story if it was up to Tracey.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four.**

A cool breeze ran through the empty kitchen of the Ketchum's house as the pair of red curtains that Ash had sent back home from his military visit from Hoenn flapped in the wind. The wind roamed throughout the room gently cooling off a hot stove top that Delia had just used to cook and running into the living room. The living room was empty as well as everything was perfectly set in place as if it had just been cleaned, Mr. Mime silently entered the room his once joyful smile now a weakened frown. Mr. Mime was use to Ash not being around but when he was gone Delia would always be in a cheerful mood, but ever since he was deployed things had been different.

Mr. Mime whimpered lowly in pain as his eyes fell upon the picture Delia had sitting in the living room's table. It was of Ash in his dress uniform freshly out of officer's training school, besides that picture was one of Ash and Pikachu taken three years ago at the yearly Pallet Town festival. Mr. Mime slowly sat down on one of the sofas and sighed heavily, his eyes glued upon the two pictures. A light gust of wind tickled Mr. Mime's face causing the Pokemon to turn his attention to the glass slider leading outside, it was half open. As Mr. Mime got up to close the slider he was surprised to see two figures in the center of the yard under the large tree, one was sitting in the old swing that Ash and Gary had made as children and the other was leaning against the tree.

It was Delia and Oak.

...

"A day doesn't go by that I don't think about him and his safety," Delia whimpered lowly as her eyes were red from the countless sleepless nights that she had spent all alone. Every morning she'd wake up to find that Mr. Mime had made her breakfast in hopes to brighten her mood, after that she'd flip through the newspaper in hopes to see anything related to Ash, she then would clean and go on countless errands in hope she could keep her mind busy, but in the end it never worked. Every Pokemon she saw reminded of her son's love for them, every child she saw reminded her of her only child, and every military flyer she'd find hanging up in the market made her cry.

It had only been a week and she could barely handle it.

"I was fearful for Gary's safety for some time," Oak began to explain as his eyes weakly stared off into the distance, "But those two boys are strong and I know that they'll be watching out for each other while over there."

There was silence.

"What do you do when you've ran out of tears?" Delia whimpered lowly as Oak simply placed his hand upon her shoulder.

* * *

As the Kanto forces pushed farther and farther into the central mountains they began to come out more woodlands and grass fields within the still rough mountain terrain. The first, second, and third Mountain Divisions leading the way of the Kanto push along with several Infantry units following from the rear and on their far flanks as support. Of course with their advanced training in mountain terrain the Mountain Divisions found themselves without any extra infantry support at their flanks as the infantry units found it hard to keep up. As traveling in the mountains was rough and infantry soldiers needed more rest, found it harder to eat, sleep, and had a harder time breathing within the mountains. The Mountains Divisions lived for these conditions.

The 2nd Mountain Division was leading the advance in the Western section of the Kanto advance, they had been on the front line for just a week and since their first day in battle where they faced the challenging task of taking out a machine gun many other men had been killed and many others wounded. Of Abra Company there had been several men wounded and about five killed since their first casualty on day one.

"I forget what grass felt like," Gary moaned lowly as he dropped to his knees within a small patch of grass located at the side of the dirt road that they were now traveling on. About two days ago small patches of grass were starting to appear and now there was a large amount of grass and trees all over the mountain, but the beautiful wild life didn't mean the terrain got less rough. If anything the wild life made it harder to travel through as the terrain was still rough and now they had to worry about enemy hiding within the trees and tall grass.

"Still can't see this so called town we're suppose to take," Bryson groaned lowly as he stood beside Ash and Gary who were sitting down in the grass at the road side taking a break, his eyes peering through a pair of binoculars that he kept hanging around his neck most of the time.

The road side was filled with men from Ash's company who were heading towards a large town not to far from their position with the rest of their battalion. Their orders were to take the town back as Johto soldiers now occupied it and had forced the Kanto civilians that lived in it out. Hundreds of civilians were retreating from their villages and towns within the mountains in fear that the war would soon arrive at their doorstep.

"Who even wants to live in a village in the middle of the mountains? We've been training for a year now in the mountains and I'm already sick of it," Gary grumbled lowly as the idea that they'd have to preform urban warfare in a large town was unsettling for many of the men. They had been trained in urban warfare during their year long training, but they were still nervous about how well protected the town was.

"It seems peaceful up here," Ash stated with a smile as he had always enjoyed the fresh mountain air.

"Yeah, until some asshole of a region decides to start a war," Bryson snickered lowly.

There was silence among them as the three of them realized their ten minute break from the march was over and they all knew they'd reach the town within a few hours. They had only ran into a few patrol and sniper fire, but their large battalion easily pushed through the small amount of resistance leading towards the town.

"Break is over! Back into formation!"

* * *

The old bank was filled with Johto soldiers running around many of them officers trying to pass around intelligence reports about the quickly advancing Kanto forces. The occupied Johto forces were doing their best to reinforce the town in hopes they could repel the Kanto forces before they could even step foot into the town, but reports of the Kanto division having been supported with about five tanks hit the HQ hard. Luckily, three of the five tanks were unable to keep up due to the rough mountain terrain and had to fall back to the supporting infantry units. Still two tanks could cause some trouble for the defending forces.

A large table sat in the center of the room as several officers scrambled around the room nervously as they were trying to set up machine gun placements in the proper place to make defending the town much easier. The Johto officer's defending the town were under the command of Colonel Chuck, a officer well known for his incredible defense skills and known for training his men in the art of hand to hand combat. Chuck's plan was to bombard the advancing forces with mortar rounds causing chaos but allowing them to enter the town as defending the town line would just create problems as the Kanto forces would at some point break the defense. Once, the Kanto forces were in the town he'd set up multiple road blocks with squads stationed at them, machine guns placed on roof tops at every road block, and he'd use the town's underground tunnel if a retreat was needed. Once, the tunnels were cleared they'd set off the explosives. Luckily, when Chuck had the Kanto civilians leave the city he sent them through the mountain canyon so they wouldn't run into the Kanto forces advancing on the main road and warn them about their numbers, defense, and usage of the tunnels.

"Colonel, it seems Captain Falkner is hear to speak with you," A Staff Sergeant called out from the entrance of the bank as Chuck nodded in agreement to allow the Air Corps Captain to enter the HQ to speak with him. A blue haired twenty six year old entered the room casually he wore the tan uniform of a Johto soldier along with a black leather Air Corps jacket with his rank visible on the collar, a collection of white fur was located on the back collar, and he had several patches located on his breast pockets and sleeve. Hanging from his neck was a pair of goggles and waiting outside for him was his over sized Pidgeot.

"Colonel," Falkner stated in his usual professional fashion.

"Bird Brain."

Falkner just sighed heavily at the Colonel childish behavior. Although, Chuck and Falkner were not in the same unit the two of them had been ordered to work together in order to hold the Western sector of the Central Mountain. Falkner was in charge of the 4th Air Corps and Chuck was in charge of a armored battalion, but of course due to the rough terrain all of his tanks had to stay behind and try to find another way to the town. Yet, they were never able too and all Chuck had to work with was his heavily armed infantry.

"My air scouts have spotted the advancing Kanto forces about fivde miles away. They seem to be from the 2nd Mountain Division if I'm correct, they're about a battalion size, and have two tanks," Falkner explained as Chuck had been using Falkner's men as scouts and the occasional attacks upon convoys as his men could fly in, cause confusion, and fly out. Falkner was annoyed that he hadn't used them to their full power yet, but Chuck didn't want to expose one of his greatest keys to victory to early in the battle. He wanted to save their large numbers for when they truly needed it.

Chuck sat there in silence as he had expected the Mountain Divisions to be leading the assault but had thought they'd come to a halt and allow an infantry unit assault the town. That would of given him time to reinforce the town and harass them with Falkner's men.

"Sir! My men can take off right now and attack the Kanto forces before they reach the town! We can deplete their numbers before they even reach the town!" Falkner cried out as he was tired of acting as the Colonel's personal scouting party and he wanted to get some real action in. He wanted to prove the higher brass that his men were the best in the Johto military.

"Fine," Chuck simply stated as he grinned at the sight of Falkner smiling with excitement. Although, Chuck wanted to save Falkner and his mne for later he knew he couldn't keep the flying type loving Captain back anymore.


End file.
